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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
The Administration of Justice: New Jersey courts have changed relatively little since the time of George III, and the intricate judicial system
is puzzling to the lawyer as well as to the layman. There are about twenty
different courts created by the constitution or by legislative enactment;
several have overlapping jurisdictions, and two or three are practically
without parallel in other States.
Charles H. Hartshorne's characterization of the New Jersey judicial sys-
tem, written in 1905, is as accurate today as when it was penned: ". . . our
system is the most antiquated and intricate that exists in any considerable
community of English-speaking people . . . Both courts and procedure
were brought here from England by our colonial forefathers and were
worked into shape fitted to the needs of a rural community of eighteenth
century colonists. They are fundamentally in that shape today." Although
procedure has been greatly simplified since 1905, the court structure itself
has become more rather than less involved.
The State has three distinctive judicial hierarchies: the law courts, for
the trial of criminal and civil actions under statutory law; the eqity courts,
for giving legal relief not afforded by the law courts; and the prerogative
or probate courts, for wills and estates.
The Court of Errors and Appeals is the highest tribunal in each of
these three hierarchies. As the name implies, it handles nothing except
appeals from the lower courts. It is unique in name and structure. Six of
its sixteen members are laymen (or at least need not be lawyers), while
the other ten comprise the chancellor of the State, the chief justice and the
eight associate justices of the Supreme Court. The chancellor is the presiding judge. The provision for lay members, who are appointed for six-year
terms, stems from Colonial times; indeed, until 1844 the Governor and
his council constituted the court of last resort.
In the law courts the second highest body is the Supreme Court, which
handles both criminal and civil cases, although the latter are limited to
suits involving $3,000 or more. It is authorized to superintend or review
the conduct of all inferior courts and public officers. The chief justice receives $19,000 a year and the eight associate justices get $18,000. The
term is seven years.
The Circuit Courts enjoy common law jurisdiction in civil cases concurrent with the Supreme Court within the counties in which they are held,
and statutory jurisdiction in a number of specific matters. The Common
Pleas Court, consisting of from one to five judges in each county, also
deals with civil matters, but its judges hear criminal cases when they sit in
the courts of Quarter Sessions, Special Sessions, and Oyer and Terminer.
Civil actions involving less than $500 are tried in county or city district
courts. In some counties there are also criminal district courts to relieve
the common pleas judges of lesser criminal trials. At the very bottom of
the system are the recorders' courts, the police courts and local justices of
the peace.
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